BEING an ex Royal Marine of world war two vintage, may I say, how pleased, indeed touched, I was with the Remembrance Day wreath-laying ceremony held in Tavistock.

In all the places I have lived, I cannot recall the ceremony so well attended by young and old and organised on such a scale for a town the size of Tavistock. I was proud to have been there.

We are a generation who will one day disappear, it is of some comfort to know that the likes of us will be remembered.

But — why does the war memorial with all those names of local men, have to be tucked away in the corner of a car park and next to the public toilets, and when on fair days, it is submerged beneath a 'bouncy castle' and surrounded by hot dog stalls.

In the grand re-designing of the town square, could not a more suitable site be found for both the war memorial and the Seventh Duke's statue, ie the town hall piazza itself, or maybe even in the grounds of the parish church which itself contains the remains of buildings hundreds of years old. Maybe the war memorial could rest there also for hundreds of years, a comforting thought for those families who have names on that memorial.

There is a bonus, too: think of the parking spaces it would release for those of us who cannot walk all that far, to have a little more space within the town to park, a commodity very rare in Tavistock today

Has there not been thought about this in the past? Perhaps the British Legion could throw some light on the subject.

L R Chester

Flat 6 Devonshire House

West Street

Tavistock